The recipe for YID! is mesmerising. They take centuries-old Yiddish drinking songs, throw them in the pot with the sounds of Duke Ellington’s 1930s big band sound, add a dash of 1960s free jazz, a dose of late 1970s New York avant-garde funk, a sprinkling of 21st century electronica and a hint of sweet indie-folk pop. The result is a daring new fusion of tribal beats, improvised riffs and angelic indie vocals, channelling the sweet tunes of the long-gone Shtetl.

After a ground-shaking performance at WOMADelaide and a headline appearance at Toronto’s Ashkenaz Festival, the band launches their début album, Space Klezmer. Co-presented by Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre, the launch will feature the full 22-piece band, including an eight-piece horn section, a six-piece rhythm section, a two-piece electronica section, Husky Gawenda and Gideon Preiss singing out the front, supported by the three Zygier sisters, and Tomi Kalinski providing spoken word narration which frames the music while extrapolating on the lyrical themes.

The 20+ players in YID! are among the most credentialled in the Australian jazz scene, each leaders of their own projects. They include Julien Wilson, Tony Hicks, Lachlan Davidson, Stephen Grant, Audrey Powne, Reuben Lewis, Jordan Murray, Niko Schauble and Ariel Valent.

Press from their performance at Womad, March 2018:

“Back at Stage 2, another extraordinary Australian act was in full swing. YID! are a 22-piece band – members coming on and off stage in various combinations throughout the performance – who play a mixture of Yiddish fold songs (think Hava Nagila on steroids as a possible genre label) interspersed with oddly beautiful impassioned covers of songs like Simon & Garfunkel’s The Boxer and The Andrew Sisters’ take on Yiddish classic, Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen. The deceptively tight, ramshackled performance was a diverse and always entertaining listening experience.” The Upside News, March 11, 2018

“It was a testament to the infectious … knees-up renditions of Yiddish drinking songs by 22-piece Melbourne band YID! that plenty of people were willing to risk dignity and heatstroke by emerging from the shade to dance wildly in front of the stage.” The Guardian, March 13, 2018

“…The day’s most entertaining set came from Melbourne’s own YID!, a freewheeling jazz/klezmer/folk/funk big-band led by Simon Starr. Chairs were discarded along with inhibitions as the audience was swept up in the band’s zany fusion of Yiddish drinking songs, punchy brass passages, woozy electronic interludes and feisty free-jazz exclamations – not to mention an Andrews Sisters homage that saw Zygier and Conway’s three daughters join the band for an irrepressibly swinging Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn – no translation needed. Shir Madness review: Festival performances heartfelt and entrancing